Variations on a Theme
by Beckslee
Summary: Since her return from The Enchanted Forest Emma has been dreaming very similar dreams every night. The dreams fluctuated between the mundane and the outrageous. But they always ended with Jefferson wearing a smug smile and shrugging at her as if to say "I told you so". Slight spoilers for 2x09 Queen of Hearts.


batsonthebrain over at tumblr made a comment about Jefferson being the prophet of Emma Swan as everything he told her in Hat Trick was right and he should constantly be by her side pointing things out and being right about them. This is based on that idea. Spoilers for Episode 9 - Queen of Hearts

I started writing this before I watched Queen of Hearts and I assumed that there would be some mention of it in the current timeline, so let's just pretend that there was a bit extra to the Emma & Regina conversation after she climbed out of the well and Regina told Emma that Cora was The Queen of Hearts. Actually no strike that, let's pretend that Regina was invited to the Granny's with everyone else and she told Emma there.

Not mine, never have been but if someone would like to give me Sebastian Stan for Christmas I'll be a happy girl.

* * *

It was getting frustrating. It was the same dream EVERY night, the situations changed but without fail it ended the same and Emma was getting sick of it. She had a fairly good idea what her subconscious was telling her and she didn't like it.

Finding out that Cora was the Queen of Hearts had to be the trigger for him being in her dreams, Emma told herself, she hadn't been bombarded like this before the obvious reminder of The Mad Hatter - of Jefferson. It was Cora and not the realisation that he had been right... about everything.

The dreams fluctuated between the mundane and the outrageous. But they always ended with Jefferson wearing a smug smile and shrugging at her as if to say "I told you so".

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Dream: Backing a loser.

She was sitting on the bleachers rugged up against the chilled wind. Henry had gone to find them both cocoa while Emma saved them seats. She was looking for him in the crowd when a voice behind her made her jump. "I hope you've backed the Rangers." She scowled at the man behind her, "Jefferson, what are you doing here?" He shrugged, looking over her head towards the playing field, "getting out of the house, you know how it is." He turned his attention back to her, "but you are backing the Rangers right? They're going to win." Emma scoffed, "oh come on, they haven't won in 10 years and their star player is out injured, the odds are 75 to 1, they have no chance! The Knights are guaranteed to win" He merely smiled, "they'll win, I promise you." Emma heard her name being called and waved to Henry, when she turned back the Hatter was gone.

A few hours later as the despondent Knights fans streamed out of the gates taking a loss of 34-8 Emma caught sight of Jefferson again, leaning against a tree as if waiting for her. He didn't move towards her, just caught her eye and grinned.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Dream: There's a Bear in There.

"I wouldn't go in there if I were you" Emma sighed and turned around. "And why is that Jefferson?" She was at the entrance to the sheriff's office. He stepped out of a shadowed doorway, "There's a purple bear in the kitchen." Walking until she stood only a foot away from him, she eyed him suspiciously, "just how do you know that and where did it come from?" He smiled down at her, "I came to visit you, got a bit of a shock when a heard growling from the kitchen, but decided to wait around to warn you. I don't know where it came from, I'm not really a bear expert." He frowned briefly "I didn't even know they came in purple."

Emma rolled her eyes, "they don't come in purple you idiot! You must have imagined it, now if you don't mind I have to get to work" Jefferson called after her again but the door banged cutting off his words.

10 minutes later when Emma stumbled out of the front door, jacket in shreds, Jefferson was waiting with a first aid kit, Emma staggered to a nearby bench and collapsed onto it. He removed what was left of her jacket and tended the scrapes she had received. It was only when he knelt in front of her to tend her hands that he dared break the silence, "So apparently they do come in purple then" as he removed coarse purple hairs that were still clutched in her fist.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Dream: Shopping List

The market was not a usual place for him to turn up. Emma was pushing her cart up the aisle when he rounded the corner walking towards her. "Emma! There you are, I knew you'd be here. You need to buy cocoa." Emma didn't even look up from the cereal she was comparing, "No I don't, the jar was full yesterday. I'm not even going to ask why you would know the contents of my kitchen either" Jefferson pushed the shopping cart out of the way to stand closer to her, "for once can't you just believe me? Just buy the damn cocoa!" she side-stepped him and pushed the cart past the tall man, "I don't need you to tell me what to buy Jefferson, I have a shopping list."

The rest of the shopping trip was frustrating for Emma and several times she had to remove a packet of cocoa from her cart that kept appearing whenever she wasn't looking. Glaring at the hatter when she got to the checkout she put aside the cocoa one more time before telling him that he was helping her carry the shopping home.

Pushing into the apartment, Emma dumped her shopping on the bench and offered Jefferson a drink, who with a smirk accepted a cup of tea. Emma turned to the cupboard to find the ingredients, slamming the cocoa jar on the bench and spinning around to glare again at Jefferson as he giggled when she noticed that it was empty.

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Dream: Colonel Mustard

She hadn't even finished saying Reverend before the grin overtook his face. How Henry had convinced her to play Clue with Grace and Jefferson, Emma still wasn't sure, but she'd be damned if she ever played another board game with this man, he was insufferable, plus he had a rule where at the start of the game you predicted who you thought was the killer, and you won extra points if you were right.

So far he had guessed correctly 3 games in a row and if he was right again she was going to slap that smug smile right off his face. Emma finished her accusations " -Green, with the lead pipe in the conservatory." She picked up the envelope from the board and glanced through the cards, glaring at Jefferson before throwing them back onto the board with a huff. "Should've gone for Colonel Mustard, Emma" Jefferson told her lightly, as Henry and Grace laughed at Emma's tantrum.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Dream: Red Wire, Black Wire

The sheriff was the closest thing to a bomb disposal unit that Storybrooke had, which is how Emma ended up on her back under a car looking at a mess of wires. The natural light dipped, and Emma glanced towards her feet, a very shiny, fashionable pair of men s shoes could be seen standing next to her legs. "Jefferson, I'm kind of busy here." He crouched down and tried to peer under the car, "I know, I'm here to help - well if you'll let me." Emma slumped against the ground, "that's a very nice thought, but do you know ANYTHING about bombs?" A concerned expression was on his face, as he finally got low enough to see under the car. "Probably about as much as you do. Should you even be playing around with this thing?"

Emma poked at a wire experimentally, "probably not, but I'm the best option, this world's technology doesn't play well with magic, I'd hate to think what it would do to something explosive." she sighed, "in the movies its always about cutting a wire, but they never explain which wire of all the ones on the damn thing is the one to cut, its always just 'red or black'" she craned her neck to look at Jefferson, "so which do you think? Should I cut the red or the black wire? He frowned at her "I don't think you should cut any of them, just leave it and clear the area, let the car explode. You have no idea what you are doing and are just as likely to blow yourself up."

"I have to try something Jefferson, why don't they ever just cut both wires? Maybe I should try that." Emma took a deep breath and picked up the wire cutters that were sitting next to her. As she closed the tool around the wire, Emma whispered, "here goes..." There was a snip and then a frantic beeping as the timer sped up, Emma's eyes widened, "Oh shit -" something that was repeated as she was dragged out from beneath the car, Jefferson's hands around her ankles, he helped her stand and they ran towards the cordon that had been set up, shouting at the onlookers to take cover.

They had just made it behind a wall when Emma felt something hit her back - as she was carried to the ground, she realised it was Jefferson covering her with his body, she opened her mouth to say something when the explosion sounded, echoing around the town. Emma's ears were still ringing when she heard a close voice, "I guess that's why they never cut both wires in the movies."

-

Emma was taking Henry to school when she finally saw him. "Jefferson!" When Henry stopped and stared at her and Jefferson jumped before he turned around Emma realised that she had sounded overly aggressive. She grimaced and turned her back on the hatter for a moment, farewelling her son and sending him through the school gate before making her way over to Jefferson.

One hand rubbing the back of his neck Jefferson started babbling as she got closer, "It's not my fault! I couldn't use the hat to get you back, your father crushed it! I would have helped if I could -" he stopped abruptly when Emma held up her hand for silence.

"I don't want to talk here, how about Granny's? I think I'm going to need some coffee for this" They walked down the street a cautious distance from each other, Emma purposely ignoring the two curious faces watching from the gate as their parents left the school together.

Little had been said on the walk or at the diner until Ruby had brought their drinks to the table. Jefferson waited for Emma to begin, nervously shifting in his seat. He didn't know what exactly this was about, but he doubted it would be good, conversations with her family never tended to go his way, he usually got bruises or threatened with jail cells.

Emma took a fortifying sip of coffee, contemplating what she was going to say, she decided to just jump straight in, if she looked foolish... well she was talking to The Mad Hatter, it kind of went with the territory. "So it turns out you were right... about everything I guess. Well not the kidnapping and drugging stuff, but the rest of it." She looked up into his startled face. She started checking things off on her fingers. "Curse, right. Magic hat, right. Other worlds, right. Me having -" she faltered, this part was still hard to believe, "Me having magic, right. Queen of Hearts, right."

Jefferson flinched at the last part, "You-" he cleared his throat "You met Cora?" Emma nodded holding her cup tightly, "oh yeah, I met her. Scared the hell out of me she did." She shivered and took another sip of coffee trying to chase the sudden chill away.

"Why bother telling me this? I mean, I'm enjoying the drink and the company, but we're hardly friends who need to catch up." The hatter was curious, he thought himself the last person Emma would want to spend the morning with. He watched as Emma blushed and fidgeted with her cup. "It's just something I needed to say, you-it's been on my mind recently." Raising her cup to drink again, Emma muttered "Maybe now my subconscious will let me sleep peacefully."

A ghost of a smile crossed his face for the first time, "Subconscious? Don't tell me you're losing sleep over me Emma?" She snorted, "Don't flatter yourself Jefferson, you're no romantic lead, more like an annoying sidekick." He laughed, suddenly understanding where she was coming from "so you're dreaming about me and something about these dreams has brought on this confession session?"

Her blush had darkened to a deep scarlet and she looked everywhere but in his direction. "Oh come on, how bad could it be? You've already said it wasn't romantic, unless you were lying..." She sighed, giving in, "in every dream you're trying to tell me something, but I won't listen - I won't believe you. I go my own way, but you're always proved right. You're usually quite smug about it too." Emma folded her arms and glared at him.

The grin that was plastered to his face was an exact replica of the one she had seen so often in her dreams, "so I stick around to gloat, how nice for you." Emma was annoyed but still had to admit, "actually you're usually helping me out of the mess I got myself into." The grin faded and he considered her, leaning forward he stretched his arms toward her resting them on the table. "That's quite a good idea actually. If you'll give me a second chance, I'd like to help. I can't guarantee to be the prophet that dream me is, but I can at least help you through this mess that you were thrown into." He gestured, trying to incorporate the whole town, then he shrugged. "Its probably what I should have done in the first place, rather than the enforced hat-making."

Emma narrowed her eyes at him, she was well aware that they weren't friends, despite how her dreams played out. Trusting him was a mistake she had made before, but she also realised that - drugging her aside - he never really lied to her. "Well I'm not looking for a sidekick at the moment - annoying or otherwise - but I am prepared to consider you as NOT one of the bad guys. I'll leave it up to you to prove just how far from the bad guys you are." He held her eyes, serious and nodded once, then a grin broke across his face. "Now, how about another cup? My tea has gone cold and I bet you don't have to work until lunchtime." Emma smiled and agreed, he was right again.

THE END.


End file.
